


Waking Nightmare

by GalahadWilder



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Sandboy, Sandboy II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 15:56:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19890457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder
Summary: When Sandboy shows up again, Ladybug is expecting a rematch against Chat Noir's nightmare version of her. She didn't realize his nightmare may have changed.When she's confronted with a dying Marinette, how is she supposed to convince her partner that the nightmare isn't real?





	Waking Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexSeanchai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSeanchai/gifts), [CheshireMadd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheshireMadd/gifts), [norakwami](https://archiveofourown.org/users/norakwami/gifts).



Nightmares aren’t so bad if you’re prepared for them. The worst of Sandboy was the first time, when they weren’t ready for him, when they hadn’t expected any of what was coming. When everything was a shock.

Now, the second time around, it’s not so bad. Horror-freakshow Adrien is off somewhere, jerkily crawling around the city and screaming about how much he loves Lila, and Ladybug is frankly unimpressed. A nightmare is never as effective the second time.

She supposes that’s why Chat gets a little cocky, why he accidentally flies right into Sandboy’s dust cloud. He drops to the ground mid-vault, coughing, as Sandboy cackles, flying away from them on his cloud.

Ladybug swings down to catch him and looks up, fully expecting to be confronted with her own face, twisted in hate. She’s excited, honestly—she’s due for a reckoning with Nightmare Ladybug. Nobody says those things to her Chaton without getting a fist in their face.

“Kitty,” she hears her own voice say, not from on high but from the streets. “Ch-Chat Noir, _help m-m-me._ ”

And Marinette stumbles out of the alley, holding her bloody chest and dragging one leg, and collapses onto the ground in front of Chat.

Ice cakes around Ladybug’s heart as she stares at her wounded doppelgänger. This is… _this_ is his nightmare?

The Nightmari is on her side, curled up, holding her shoulders. Half her hair is torn out at the bloody roots, her leg is bending the wrong way and turning a sickening black-green, and her chest shudders with every breath. Even knowing she’s not real, Ladybug wants to vomit.

Why Marinette? She’d expect herself, yes, but in costume, not as a civilian. What is going on that Chat’s worst nightmare is—

Chat’s eyes spark dangerously as he catches sight of the Nightmari. He surges to his feet, and Ladybug has a moment of horror where she realizes that _he’s going to the nightmare._ “Marinette!” he croaks as Ladybug’s yo-yo wraps around his torso, yanking him to a halt. “ _Mari!”_

Ladybug yanks Chat to look at herself, locking eyes with him. “ _Listen to me,_ ” she hisses. “It’s just a nightmare. She’s not _real_.”

Chat whines, yanking against the yo-yo string. His eyes are distant, feral, in a way she hasn’t seen on him since Reverser took his courage. He’s not even looking at the real her, too focused on the doppelgänger.

The Nightmari jerks, screaming, and Chat—the sound that comes out of his mouth isn’t human, or even feline. It’s the Platonic ideal of anguish, reverberating in Ladybug’s bones as he yanks against her grip.

She digs her heels into the ground and tenses her muscles.

“ _Please_ , Bug!” Chat screams, struggling forward—her feet slide forward, digging furrows into the cobbled street. “Her nightmare—it got her, let me help her, _I have to save her_ —!”

“The Cure, Chat!” Ladybug cries. “If you want to help her, we have to stop Sandboy!”

Chat’s whole body goes slack, and for a moment she thinks she’s gotten through to him. But then—

He turns to her, and she sees the same rage burning in his eyes as when Dark Cupid took him. “ _I would let all of Paris burn to save her_ ,” he growls, and the implication in his words is clear: _stay out of my way._

Ladybug drops the yo-yo string in shock. He’s never looked at her like this, not when he’s in control of his own mind, and the fact that it’s her civilian self that’s driving him into this frenzy—before she can stop him, Chat is at the Nightmari’s side. “I’m here, Princess,” he whispers.

“Kitty,” the Nightmari gasps, reaching up to him. Their hands meet, clasp… and then her skin begins to blacken and flake.

Oh, no. No no no. Chat’s nightmare… Ladybug knows exactly where it’s going now, and it’s worse than she could ever have possibly imagined.

The Nightmari screams as the false Cataclysm takes hold, but she doesn’t even finish a breath before her tongue turns to ash. It’s slow, too slow, real Cataclysm is faster than this and it’s just prolonging Chat’s agony. She’s watching herself burn from the inside out, shuddering and twitching as her body disintegrates, and even _knowing_ it isn’t real doesn’t stop her heart from squeezing into a tiny point like it’s trying to hide behind her sternum.

Everything’s silent for a moment, and then she hears the worst goddamn sound she’s ever experienced as Chat’s vocal cords seem to shatter in raw, unfiltered torment.

All Ladybug’s muscles lock up at once. She doesn’t know what to do—doesn’t know how to help him. He doesn’t know Marinette well enough for this, he shouldn’t be reacting this way—what is he…?

She sees a black-purple glow fluttering towards him. _Oh no. Oh GOD NO._

Hawkmoth must’ve pulled the Akuma back from Sandboy—Chat’s in such a bad way that… that…

She slams into him, spinning him around, pressing his chest to hers. “ _Chat it wasn’t real!_ ” she whispers, frantic. “ _It’s me, it’s Marinette, you didn’t kill me, I’m right here, I’m okay—”_ She’s sobbing into his ear. Fuck identities, he needs her _now_.

“ _Marinette?_ ” he gasps, his chest shaking.

“Yeah,” she sobs. “Yeah, Kitty, it’s me.”

He breaks down into her, and the butterfly hesitates, fluttering in a circle around them. She doesn’t even let go of him as she snaps her yo-yo upward, catching it in the shell and burning the corruption out of its body. It flutters off, white, and Ladybug drops onto Chat Noir’s shoulder. They’re both shaking, together.

Finally, Chat’s shuddering slows. “Th-thank you,” he rasps. “For—for lying to me.”

Ladybug blinks. “What?”

“I just… I know that must’ve been… you hate it,” he says. “I just… I needed to believe she was okay. Just for a minute.”

Ladybug’s breath rushes into her lungs. She just spilled her identity to him, and _he didn’t believe her_.

“I… I need to check on her,” Chat says. “To make sure she’s okay.”

*

She’s never seen Chat move this fast. She’s hard-pressed to keep up with him, pushing her legs, her arms, her lungs to their absolute limits, but before she’s realized it she’s lost sight of him completely.

“ _Dammit,_ Chat,” she gasps, rolling to a stop on a rooftop a few blocks away from the bakery. She can barely stand—she had to outrun Nightmare Adrien before transforming just in case Hawkmoth could see through his eyes, then chase Sandboy II around Paris, then this. She’s bent over, hands on her knees, breathing hard—

 _Bip._ Chat’s text tone. She flips open her compact.

 **Chaton:** she’s not here

 ** _Chaton:_ **lb she’s not here

He’s panicking. He always texts with proper grammar and syntax, no matter the situation; she’s never seen him devolve like this. Now that the danger’s passed, something in her warms at the thought that _she_ did this to him. Not Ladybug-her, Marinette-her.

She catches her breath, leaps down to street level, and detransforms, _sprinting_ towards her apartment. She’s looking up as she does, trying to catch a glimpse of Chat overhead… so she doesn’t notice the loose cobblestone until she’s halfway to the ground.

Halfway’s as far as she gets.

“ _You’re okay_ ,” Adrien breathes, and she can feel his… _something._ Like he’d been holding his breath for hours, and now he’s finally let it out.

“Y-yeah?” she says, as he lifts her back upright and places her on her feet, oh so gently, in a way that makes her heart go soft. “Wh-why would I… not be?”

“What were you doing out?” Adrien says instead, dodging the question. “It’s, like, midnight. And there was an Akuma!”

She blinks. “What—what were _you_ doing out?” she snaps back, completely forgetting that she can’t talk around him. “Doesn’t your dad lock you inside the house at eight?”

Adrien looks at the ground, sheepish. “Snuck out,” he grumbles. “Akuma got between me and the house.”

Her heart falls at his face. “Oh,” she says. She’s not sure how to respond to that.

He lights up suddenly. “Hey,” he says. “Do you… mind if I walk you home?”

Marinette bites her lip. This… normally, that would be _amazing_ , but—“Sorry,” she says. “I’d love to, but… but I need to find someone first.”

“Oh, who is it?” Adrien says. “We can look together.”

Marinette barely restrains herself from growling. Why, why, _why_ does Adrien have to be such a gentleman? She wouldn’t love him if he weren’t, sure, but right now it is _stunningly inconvenient_. “Just—just a friend,” she says.

“Who is he?”

She closes her eyes. “Chat Noir, okay?” she says. “He was freaking out earlier, and he was looking for me, and I _have to find him before he hurts himself_ —”

“Ladybug told you?” he gasps, and then immediately covers his mouth, his eyes going as wide as she’s ever seen them.

Marinette’s eyes narrow. “Told me?” she says. “Told me what?”

Adrien swallows, then sighs. “I… Marinette,” he says. “Mari. Princess.”

Marinette’s eyelid twitches. _No_. No, that didn’t—that wouldn’t—

He grins that _fucking_ grin, and oh Kwami, it _is_ him. “Hi,” he says, scratching the back of his neck.

Marinette stares at him, and then… she can’t help it. She starts laughing. Full-throated, ugly laughing.

He stares at her with concern. “Marinette?” he says. “Are you… okay?”

“ _Chaton!”_ she shrieks with delight, throwing herself into his confused arms. She presses her body to his, because he’s _here_ and he’s _okay_. “I wasn’t lying earlier,” she whispers.

Adrien’s eyes widen. “You… what?”

She smiles. “I told you I was fine,” she murmurs, stepping back and blushing… but he reaches out, takes her hand.

“My Lady?”

She closes her eyes, smiles, nods. “It’s me, Kitty,” she says. “I’m okay.”

He yanks her into his arms. “Oh thank Plagg,” he sobs. “Don’t—don’t ever die on me again.”

She pokes him in the stomach. “You first,” she says with a smile. “Hypocrite.”


End file.
